The Need
In the field of oncology, medical professionals rely heavily on a vast array of constantly evolving clinical guidelines to make informed decisions about patient care.
These guidelines are crucial for ensuring standardized, evidence-based treatment across various cancer types and stages. However, the sheer volume and complexity of these guidelines can be overwhelming, even for experienced specialists. The need arises for a tool that can help oncologists navigate this wealth of information quickly and efficiently, ensuring they have the most relevant and up-to-date information at their fingertips.
The Challenge
The primary challenge lies in managing and accessing the extensive and ever-growing body of medical guidelines in oncology. Specialists often need to consult multiple guidelines, which can be time-consuming and cumbersome, potentially leading to delays in decision-making. Additionally, keeping up with the latest updates and research in the field is a daunting task. There is also the challenge of ensuring that these guidelines’ interpretation and application are consistent and accurate across various specialties.
We had to consider:
- Making the AI to seamlessly understand and communicate in Bulgarian language is tough (especially when it is combined with medical jargon, acronyms and terms it is even tougher)
- The need to provide speech recognition since the specialists do not always have the possibility to type at a given moment (again in Bulgarian)
- The meaning of a single term may differ depending on the cancer type in question
- All the “training” materials were just PDF files…
- The structure of the guidelines is very complex for automated “meaning extraction”. They have a 6+ level hierarchy and many important cross-references, sections specific for the GRADE approach, alternative recommendations grouped by relevance. A ton of things that had to be considered by the AI Assistant
Our client’s primary request was to help them plan, build, develop and implement an AI Powered Assistant that will help the oncology experts get onto another level – being supported in their critically important daily work.
Тhe Solution
The AI Assistant for MORE e-Guidelines Management Platform addresses these challenges by providing a sophisticated, user-friendly tool for oncology specialists. Key features of the AI assistant include:
Automated “in-context” diving that allows the user to be guided deeper and deeper in a specific guideline, then section, then sub-section, then topic, then variations – continuously providing reference and guiding questions helping the specialist to find what he/she is looking for or to understand better.
Five “modes” of operation that allows acting as:
- “Questions answering” – the AI Assistant is providing the answer, coupled with detailed explanation of its arguments, including references to specific guidelines sections/topics/chapter and quotations. The AI Assistant also periphrases the question, confirming it was correctly understood.
- “Action points suggestion” – the AI Assistant provides recommendations and suggestions for further steps, guiding the experts and what’s the logical next steps, what the alternatives could be, what is or is not aligned with the guideline’s recommendations.
- “Terms explanation” – the AI Assistant explains complex medical terms, coupled with explanation and references to the specific guideline content that could be used for more details if needed.
- “Self-assessment” – based on the expert requested area/term or context, the AI Assistant generates “test questions” with “a) b) c) d) … “. The output is combined with correct answer (plus explanation why it is the one and references where more details could be read)
- “Brainstorming/Debating on topic” – the AI Assistant gets into the “shoes” of an Expert buddy, that is “partnering” the expert user when discussing hypothesis or thinking on a tricky question.
Here is an example of the great output:
The Expert:
“Do you think that treating carcinomas with chemotherapy is effective?”
The AI:
“My opinion is that chemotherapy can be effective in treating carcinomas, but it is not guaranteed to lead to a complete cure. It can help reduce the size of the tumor and prevent it from spreading, but it can also there are also serious side effects. It is important to consider the individual needs of the patient and choose the most suitable treatment method for him
Have you considered the following prior going into chemotherapy direction:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of chemotherapy in the treatment of carcinomas?
- What other treatment methods are there for carcinomas and how do they compare to chemotherapy in terms of effectiveness and side effects?
- What are the criteria for choosing a treatment method for carcinomas and how is the most appropriate method determined for a specific patient?”
The AI assistant is fully integrated within the client’s platform UI
Value Delivered
24/7 Availability: The AI Assistant is always available (it is not going to do a surgery, not with a patient, not on a holiday), meaning the oncologists can get help from their “AI buddy” when they need it. This is a significant advantage over human experts who cannot be available 24/7.
Note: Despite these advantages, it is important to note that AI Assistants cannot replace human oncology experts. They can supplement and enrich the process, but they cannot provide the personal contact and expertise that experts can provide.
- Personalization: The AI Assistant can provide personalized answers that adapt to the needs of each expert (everyone is asking the questions in their own way).
- Oncology Experts Self-evaluation and continuous learning: The AI Assistant provides a “mode” that offer exercises and “knowledge checking questions” (plus references and explanations for the correct answer), helping the specialists to extend their knowledge
- Very fast response: The AI Assistant can answer questions in real time. This means that the experts could have a colleague “one hand away” and can get instant feedback on their questions and find out if they understand the material correctly.
- Five roles: The AI Assistant roles allow steering its behavior, covering huge amount of use cases.
- Unreal good source of knowledge for all present in the guidelines: Because the AI Assistant is very well trained, it can provide information on almost any topic present in the guidelines. This makes it great for medical professionals who need to digest a huge amount of information.
- Learning through language acquisition: The AI Assistant can help students absorb medical jargon and learn how to communicate effectively in the complex oncology field.
